Two Most Highly Valued Qualities: Teachability and Integrity

Integrity and teachability are the two most important qualities to have in others. Considerable effort should be made to build an organization where they are in evidence.

Summary

Teachability and Integrity are the most important qualities.
Always assess first to see if these two qualities dominate.
WHEN RECRUITING	WHEN MENTORING
Get it from the start	To optimise the time spent
WHEN PROMOTING	WHEN COMMITTING TO AN
To ensure	INVESTMENT IN PERSONAL
quality leadership	DEVELOPMENT
	To optimize the investment

Details

Recruitment: The first step is to recruit people who demonstrate a teachable spirit and have proven integrity. Since recruitment is the first door into the organization, and the first step to building a world-class organization, these two qualities should be uppermost on the recruitment list by looking for instances where the candidate has developed and demonstrated them.

Mentoring: One of the most effective tools within an organization for developing talent is through mentoring. This is the process whereby an individual learns the skills and strengths of another over a defined time period, through dedicated one-on-one coaching time.

By selecting those who have a proven track record in integrity and teachability as mentors in the mentoring program, and placing with them those most likely to succeed, you will increase the opportunity for teachability and integrity to take root within the organization.

Promotion: When decisions are made on who should be promoted, and publicly recognized with additional responsibility, select those who have demonstrated both teachability and integrity. This will again serve as a model for the rest of the company, and also place individuals with those qualities in positions of leadership. Since like begets like, it will reinforce the value placed on those qualities and increase the likelihood of their being reproduced throughout the organization.

"When decisions are made on who should be promoted, select those who have demonstrated both, teachability and integrity."

 

Development: Organizations must make decisions on where to place their development budget as training and development costs are high – both in terms of opportunity cost and real expenses.

Ensure that those who receive significant development are those who demonstrate both teachability and integrity. This will maximize the return on investment, and continue to harness the potential of those individuals with these two crucial qualities.

Source: http://www.eaglesflight.com/leadership/teach_integrity.html